Buried Secrets
by one two buckle my shoe
Summary: Dr. Robert Chase has many secrets, secrets that the others fear may be killing him...
1. Chapter 1

Hi, my name is One Two Buckle My Shoe, and this is my first story. This is about Dr. Robert Chase and the secrets that he has been keeping.

Disclaimer: I do not own House, M.D in ANY way; I own only Allah-Maria, Aliah-Grace, and Zannia-Sanis and Leandra

Chapter One

"Where is Chase?" House yelled, as he limped into the conference room. Cameron and Foreman were already there and were sitting working together on a crossword puzzle, and they looked up and looked at him, confused.

"House, you ask every day, and every day I say 'I don't know where he is', and yet every day you still ask." Cameron said, a little annoyed.

House glared at her, and sunk down into one of the chairs. "It's a good thing that we don't have a patient otherwise he would be in big trouble."

Technically, the doctor in question was only five minutes late for that day's work, but then again, who knew when he would show up. Within only a few minutes of House's angry muttering to himself about how hard it is to find good help, Dr. Chase walked into the room, his whole body looking worn and thinner than usual, as it was clear to all of the other ducklings and House that Chase was very rapidly losing weight, and his hair hanging in his eyes.

"You know, Chase, you are twenty six years old, you would think that you would be able to read a watch." House scorned as Chase made his way over to the counter and started to make himself tea.

"I'm sorry," he said sadly.

Cameron and Foreman exchanged worried glances but nobody said anything as Chase finished making his tea and brought it over to the table, sitting down and cupping it in his hands as if he would die did he let it go.

"Hey, Chase, you look kind of pale, are you okay?" Cameron asked, sympathetically. She reached over and put her hand over Chase's, which he quickly pulled away.

"I'm fine," He finally looked up at them and they weren't shocked to see the bags that seemed to have found a permanent home over the past few months under his eyes.

"Chase," House said, "I think that you should go home,"

"What, you don't think that I can do my job?" Chase yelled, standing abruptly. "You sit there complaining about your leg and acting like the biggest hypocrite by saying 'say no to drugs' and then popping pills and you have the nerve to question my abilities! You're so full of it!" Angrily, Chase stalked out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

"You are mean, he takes offence, and you are nice, he takes offence, is there any way of pleasing that kid?" House muttered.

"You should have asked if he wanted to go home." Cameron replied, sipping her coffee. "It's less In-Your-Face,"

House glared at her, "If I had wanted your expert opinion I would have asked." He shot at her scornfully. He got up and limped into his office coming back with a file in his hand. He dropped it onto the table in front of his two ducklings. "Differential diagnosis: 26 year old male, rapid weight loss, sleeplessness, and a short fuse on a naturally very long stick of dynamite."

Cameron and Foreman looked at the file and immediately recognized the name: Robert Rhys Ryan Chase. "Why are we doing this, House?" Foreman asked. "I don't care why the little jerk is upset. He's a spoiled brat,"

"That's not nice," Cameron defended, "He is very nice, and just because he is very private that doesn't mean that he isn't."

"Ah, and there is a good question, why is he so private, what is he hiding?" House interrupted.

"Who says that he's hiding anything?" Foreman said annoyed.

"Oh, please, the kid has been steadily losing weight ever since he got here and the last two months have been the worst. I want to know what is going on."

"He chews on his pens a lot,"

Foreman and House looked at Cameron as though she were insane.

"Look, when you are depressed you take anti-depressants and they make you need to gnaw on things; well, he gnaws."

"You think that Chase is depressed?" Foreman asked. He couldn't think of any reason why the rich kid would be depressed.

"I already know that he has been on anti-depressants since he was fourteen, that isn't the issue here, I don't think that that has anything to do with this."

Cameron, who had been looking through the file, gasped. "Unless he hasn't taken any in five months."

House grabbed the file, "What do you mean, five months!" he yelled looking it over. "He was on the strongest anti-depressants there are for severe depression."

"No wonder he has been so weird." Cameron sighed, "I wonder why he stopped taking them."

"That is a good question," House whispered. He just couldn't think of any good reason why Chase would stop his pills like that. He wondered vaguely if it had been something that he had said to him, before he realized that five months ago would have been when his father died. This seemed odd to him, though, as he would think that after Rowan's death Chase would need them more than ever, despite his unbelievable 'it hurts less to just not care' speech.

House picked up the phone and pressed that button that would connect him with the ICU, leaving it on speaker phone. "Hey, it's House, is Chase down there?" he asked.

"No, Dr. House, I haven't seen him since last night," the nurse said, confused.

House quickly hung up and dialed Chase's cell phone to no avail. He then took a sigh and dialed Chase's home phone number. The three listened to the phone ring three times before it was picked up.

"Hello?" It was a small, happy, little girl's voice that thoroughly confused the three and caused House to look down at the phone number again to make sure that he had the right one.

"Is Robert Chase there?" House asked, trying to sound nice when he was incredibly confused.

"No, sorry," The little girl said, "Daddy left for work a little while ago."

So there is chapter one, I know that it was very short, but the other's will hopefully be longer. I want to continue but I'm going to leave it until I get some reviews, so if you wouldn't mind, I would love some reviews it would really make my day. Thank you for reading and the next chapter should be up soon.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey, thank you for all of the wonderful reviews, I really appreciate it. So without any further delay, here is chapter two, I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for Allah-Maria, Aliah-Grace, Leandra, and Zannia-Sanis

Warning: There are mentions of anorexia and suicide in this chapter

Chapter two

"Oh, well can you tell me where your daddy is?" House asked looking shocked over at Cameron and Foreman.

"He's at work, Dr. House," The little girl replied. "I just said that, don't you listen?"

House, Cameron and Foreman were all taken aback. "How did you know my name?" he asked.

"A nosy, older man," She replied, "I'm seven years old, I'm not stupid."

House exchanged glances with his two eldest ducklings. If she was seven she would have been born when Chase was nineteen.

"Where is your mom?" House asked finally.

"Our mummy is in heaven," The little girl answered sadly.

House suddenly felt awful for both asking the question and for Chase. "What do you mean, our?"

"My sisters and I, of course," she replied nonchalantly.

"Sisters?" he asked, "How many sisters?"

"Well, there is me, I'm Allah-Maria, then there is Aliah-Grace who is four, and then there is Zannia-Sanis (Zah-nee-ah Sah-nis), she is only two years old. Mummy died when she had her and we had to go live with Auntie Stephanie for two months because Daddy was so sad."

"Auntie Stephanie?" House asked, "Your dad has a sister?"

"No," Allah-Maria said, "She isn't really our auntie, she and my dad have been best friends since they were eight years old and we call her auntie for that reason."

"I see,"

"Listen, Mr. House," Allah-Maria said, "As much as I'm enjoying this little chat of ours, if Leandra found me on the phone without her permission she would kill me, so, I have to go."

"Leandra, who is that?"

"She is our nanny, she was daddy's nanny too when he was little." She answered. "I have to go now, though, say hi to daddy for me when he gets there okay?"

"I will,"

"Thank you," She said, "It was a pleasure speaking with you." And then all they heard was a dial tone.

"Crap, that's a smart kid," Foreman said.

"I can't believe that Chase has three kids, without a wife. It's all so sad; he's raising his daughters all alone."

"What was with those names, though?" Foreman asked. "Allah-Maria, Aliah-Grace, and Zannia-Sanis?"

"Well, Chase is Czech and German; maybe those names mean something in one of those languages." House responded, sipping his coffee. "But either way, this is all really weird, and I just can't believe it."

"So what are we going to do about Chase, now, we still don't know where he is." Cameron said, sadly.

"I think I know," House whispered.

HCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCH

Dr. Robert Chase had always felt bad about lying. He had lied, a few times, and it always made him feel sick to his stomach. When the nun was getting treated, he had told her that he had left seminary school, but he hadn't told her that he had gone back and that he was also a priest. He didn't work as a priest much, only when there was a service scheduled and nobody could do it, but deep down, he was still a priest always, and he therefore always felt bad about lying, about not saving people, he always felt as though he was letting God down.

What he was supposed to do about this he didn't know. He had always thought that if he believed enough, that God would make things better. God would stop his mum from drinking, bring his father home at night, and had certainly never expected God to take his wife away from him.

Melissa Halley Chase was her name, and she was very beautiful with long, flowing black hair and brown eyes. They had met when they were sixteen, she wanted to become a nun, but had decided to become a priest instead so that they could marry. Sure enough, four days after his eighteenth birthday (and two months after hers) they had married, and thirteen months later they had welcomed their first daughter Allah-Maria Dawn Chase into the world. Three years later, their second miracle, named Aliah-Grace Hannah Chase was born and they couldn't be happier. When Chase had gotten the job with Dr. House, Melissa had been eight months pregnant. She had given birth three weeks prematurely and had bled out during the birth; there had been nothing that anyone could do, and that had made Robert alone and a father of three. He named his newest daughter Zannia-Sanis; this was the name that Melissa had wanted to name Allah-Maria before they had changed their minds. Robert's best friend Stephanie Dashund had moved into his house to help care for the children, but grief and depression were hitting Robert hard, and he couldn't stand to let his children see him like that, so he went to stay in his home in London for two months before he found himself able to return. He had pledged never to date or marry again, and so far he had kept to his pledge. When Zannia was five months old, they moved to New Jersey for his new job and his nanny Leandra had moved with them to care for the house and children while he was working.

He has always been very private, as well. Stephanie and Melissa were always the only two people who could really get him to open up. Cameron was always trying to get him to talk, but he just couldn't open up to people. Opening up to people got you hurt, and he had been hurt too many times to ever want to get hurt again. House, well, House knew that Robert was broken inside, and he wanted to know why, but Robert was sure that House brought it all down to the fact that his dad had left and his mum had drunk herself to death. Foreman, well Foreman just thought that Robert was a stuck up rich brat that never had to work hard for anything, he never even considered that there may be more to the blonde haired blue eyed doctor than that. Robert didn't really care what Foreman thought, though, because having Foreman think this was, in Robert's mind, better then having him know the truth.

There were some things that Robert didn't even want to admit to himself. Growing up, his mother had been anorexic, and had therefore made him be anorexic as well; telling him that if he ate that he would get fat and that people would hate him. She told him that all you have to do is to not eat anything except for once every two weeks have a turkey sandwich on twelve grain bread, and that is how he lived until he was 15 and she died. Now, he hadn't really seen anything strange about this, just like he hadn't found the fact that his mum was always passed out drunk strange, and he had thought the fact that she used to like to use him as her punching bag was a completely normal thing. Now, he still fought anorexia, and although he tries very hard to eat, sometimes he will throw up if he eats too much and has lately reverted back to his mum's system of a sandwich every two weeks. Luckily, his children all assumed that he ate while he was at the hospital, and therefore never even blinked at the fact that he didn't usually eat. Leandra, though, was a different story. She was getting very suspicious as she had been there as his caretaker when he was young and going through anorexia with his mother and she was sure that he had reverted back to old ways again.

When he was thirteen, Robert had cut his wrists in an attempt to leave the world behind and go to heaven and be happy. This hadn't worked as his mother, actually sober for once, had walked into the bathroom, seen him, and called an ambulance. After he was allowed to leave the hospital, he was put on anti-depressants and had been taking them ever since. Well, almost ever since. Five months ago, his father, Dr. Rowan Chase, had died and Robert had stopped taking them altogether. He doesn't know why he stopped; maybe it was because he was suddenly embarrassed to ask Dr. Wilson to give him a new subscription, or maybe he was tired of living life on drugs and wanted to see what it would be like without them. Well, ever since he had stopped taking them, his anorexia had gotten back to its natural state from before his mother died and he was slowly becoming more and more depressed. He was almost scared to go home because he didn't want his children to see him like this.

And then today had been the straw that broke the depressed camel's back. He had been five minutes late for work and House had told him that he didn't think that he could do his job and Robert had freaked out and yelled at him. This had startled Robert just as much as it had startled House, Cameron and Foreman, and he knew that things had suddenly reached their limit. He had left and had called Stephanie and asked her to come to New Jersey and take the girls and Leandra to live with her in Australia and had then called Leandra and Allah to tell them. Allah had been upset, and Leandra had been a little angry, and very suspicious, but he had just told them not to worry. Stephanie was flying out tonight and Robert was going to meet them at the airport and say goodbye before they left.

So after that he had come down here into the chapel. He sat, staring at nothing at all and silently praying to God before he opened his eyes, running a finger gently over his rosary beads.

"Hey, Mel," He whispered. "I'm sorry for everything; I didn't mean to screw things up again. I'm sorry," He put his head in his hands and sobbed.

"I don't think that you need to ask for her forgiveness,"

Chase jumped and looked into the sad faces of his three coworkers.

"I think you need to forgive yourself, Robert," House continued.

"What do you want?" Chase said, angry that they had snuck up on him. He quickly wiped the tears from his face.

"We want to help you," Cameron said, reaching out to touch his shoulder, but he, again, pulled away abruptly.

"Oh, please," Chase said, "You don't care. In two months my fellowship is over and I'll leave and none of you will even notice that I'm gone, so don't go giving me that."

"Chase, we are going to get your fellowship renewed, you're not leaving." House said, and this shocked all of the ducklings.

"Well, what if I don't want to stay?" Chase asked defensively.

_Come on, Robert, _House thought sadly_, take down your defences just for a little while so that I can help you, please, Robert. _

"You do want to stay," House replied.

"No, I want to go home," Chase said, "Home as in Melbourne, not New Jersey."

"Well, you will stay anyways." House said.

Chase, now very annoyed, crossed his arms over his chest. "And why do you say that?"

"Because you are scared to be alone," House replied. Immediately, and only for a split second, they saw a look of horror and comprehension in Chase's eyes and they knew that House had hit it right on the button, but as quickly as it had come, was as quick as it had gone.

"That is ridiculous, I'm not two years old anymore, House,"

"Yeah, and when you were two years old you were alone, when you were ten years old you were alone, you are and have always been, alone, but it doesn't have to be that way, Robert," House said, trying to sound sympathetic.

Robert looked down at his feet, before looking back up and looking straight into House's eyes. "Why don't you just leave me alone?"

"Because, I don't think that you should be alone." House replied.

Cameron reached into the pocket of her lab coat and pulled out a bottle of pills. "Here, Robert," She handed them to him and he recognized them as his anti-depressants.

He looked at her, "What are these?" He asked, a little angrily.

"They're your pills." Cameron replied.

"I don't want the bloody pills; I want you to leave me alone." Chase threw the bottle on the floor. "Why can't you understand that? I don't need your help, I don't need to be fixed, and I don't need you to baby-sit me, alright!" Chase angrily pushed past the three and stalked out of the chapel, leaving three confused doctors behind.

Cameron's eyes filled with tears and she sat down on one of the benches, quietly letting tears fall as Foreman bent over and picked up the bottle of pills.

"Well, I think we got through to him," House said. Cameron and Foreman looked at him dumbfounded. "Tough room, I was joking." He added.

"Well, what are we supposed to do now?" Foreman asked. He had to admit that even he was starting to get worried about Chase. The fact that there was barely any fat on his bones at all and the fact that the normally completely calm young man was getting very irritable concerned even him.

"Well," House sighed, "There is only one thing left to do."

"What?" Cameron and Foreman asked.

HCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHC

So there is Chapter Two, I really hope that you enjoyed it and the next chapter should be up soon. Please review. No flames please.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey, once again, thanks for the wonderful reviews, I really appreciate it. About Chase being Australian, not Czech and German, he is Australian and was born there but Rowan Chase was Czech and that would make Chase Czech, as well, in this story I have Chase's mother as being from Germany, making Chase German as well, so he is all three. So on with the story.

Chapter Three:

"You want me to _what_?"

Dr. Lisa Cuddy sat in her desk staring bewildered at the three doctors.

"We need you to insist that either Chase agrees to talk to us, or he gets fired," House replied. Even after all of his thinking, this pathetic plan was all that he could come up with and he could only hope that it would work. "If I do it he won't believe me, he'll take it more seriously coming from you,"

"Please, House," Cuddy sighed, leaning back in her chair, "Chase has more money than you all will make in a lifetime, put together. I'm talking millions, if not billions of dollars. I mean, he doesn't need to work, but he does, he'll see this as a threat and he will be packing before I even finish threatening him."

"No, Cuddy," Cameron said, "Don't you remember that Chase will do anything to keep his job, don't you remember Vogler."

"That was completely different," Cuddy replied, glaring at the female duckling, "Chase did that because he felt threatened and he liked it here, now he knows that he doesn't have his anti-depressants to tell him that not everything can be fixed. Chase is vulnerable and depressed. If you even start on his case normally he gets defensive and starts putting up extra brick walls, what do you think an attack on his anti-depressants and daughters will do to him?"

"To be honest…" House started.

"No, House," Cuddy interrupted forcefully. "Chase is very near broken. If you know the exact place to chisel you can shatter him completely, and I am not going to stand by and help you do that to a nice man like Robert. He doesn't deserve that. If you break Chase he won't be able to put himself together again, kind of like Humpty Dumpty. Except that Humpty Dumpty didn't have children that would suffer immensely if they lost their father, especially as they have already lost their mother."

"Technically, no one knows whether Humpty Dumpty actually did have children. I mean the story simply isn't clear, he could have had dozens of eggs before his unfortunate fall."

House rambled nonchalantly only to receive the glares of Cuddy, Foreman and Cameron.

"Well, without threatening him," Cameron shot House a nasty look, "What are we supposed to do to get him to see sense and talk to us?"

"I don't know," Cuddy replied, "And I want you to know that I'm just as worried about Chase as you are, but we cannot be threatening people's jobs like this, especially when they aren't stable in the first place."

"So what you're saying is that we do nothing?" House said angrily, "Well that isn't good enough. You may think that doing this is going to kill Chase, but if we don't do it he's going to end up killing himself, whether it be by anorexia, or giving himself an ulcer, we need to do something before the kid self destructs!"

Cuddy stood abruptly, "I know that we need to do something! Don't you think that I care because I do care! He is one of my doctors, one of my best doctors, and this hospital would be a lot more chaotic if he weren't here to work in two departments that need him! This is a kid who misses his home, who misses his wife, who are we to say that he has to stay or go, that he has to do this and do that, who are we to say how he should feel!"

"We have no right to tell him what to feel but if we let him go back to Australia then in about eight months time we'll be reading his obituary!" House yelled.

"That's enough!" Cuddy screamed, "I don't want to hear any more about this! Chase called me about two hours ago asking for two weeks off and I gave it to. You have to let him sort himself out by himself, because otherwise he'll never get through it."

"Get through it!" House yelled, "Chase has had the saddest, most awful childhood, and life when you really think about it, then any person that I have ever heard of! I think that some orphans had it better than him!"

"Don't speak about what you don't understand, House," Foreman said, "Chase is just a rich kid who…"

"Chase is NOT just a rich kid!" House turned on Foreman, "You know nothing about Chase's childhood; I don't even know that much but what I know is awful. You think that just because he is rich that he leads the perfect little life, well I'll bet you anything that growing up he would have given anything to have your life!"

"My life, why, I was a poor kid in LA," Foreman scoffed.

"Because you had, have, parents who love you, who would do anything for you, who are proud of you. Do you know what Chase would have given for his father to once say that he was proud of him? He would have probably given anything for his mother to act like a mother should act!"

"Instead of what?" Foreman said angrily.

"Instead of being a raging alcoholic is what!" House yelled, not realizing what he was revealing.

Cuddy, Cameron and Foreman all gasped. "What?"

House sighed. It was a little late now to take back what he had just told them. "Chase's mother was an alcoholic his whole life. She drank herself to death when he was sixteen. He watched her slowly deteriorate his whole life, and he didn't know how to help her, and he was all alone."

Silence fell over the room as House continued. "You think that Chase is evil for not forgiving the man that was never there and drove his mother to the bottle of gin she so loved, for not forgiving the man who up and left when he was ten because _he_ couldn't handle Mrs. Chase anymore and left it up to his ten year old son. I think that it's brave of him to even be in the same room as the man who caused his whole family to destruct."

"Chase is very much a wounded soldier, he is hurting inside and doesn't want to tell anyone for fear of being seen as weak, and we've driven him to this just like his father and just like his mother did. We are just as bad as they are."

"I can't believe this, poor Chase," Cameron sniffed, and she and Cuddy joined in a comforting hug (as House and Foreman looked at the two women completely amazed). "He really needs to talk to someone, be it us or a therapist."

"How are we going to make him talk though?" Cuddy asked.

House sighed. "The only thing that we can do is to back him into a corner so that he has nowhere to go."

"Oh, yeah, that's what we need," Foreman said sarcastically, "To give the poor guy a nervous breakdown."

"But at least we'll be there when he _has _it," House replied. "If we don't make him talk then he'll self-destruct and have a nervous breakdown by himself and might hurt himself, this is our only option."

Cuddy, Cameron and Foreman looked at one another and nodded their heads.

"Okay," House said, "Anyone know Chase's address?"

HCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCH

Robert Chase slammed the door to his two-story house and leaned against it with a sigh. He had just come back from saying goodbye to his babies, his little girls. They had cried at having to leave him, and he had cried at them having to leave, but in the end, he knew that it was the best thing to do. He refused to let them watch him self-destruct like he had watched his mother.

Sometimes, he would dream that he was dead, and it would be a nice dream. He would walk into heaven and he would be instantly greeted by the Lord. His mother and Melissa would then run out to meet him and he would give them big hugs and tell them how much he loves them and had missed them. But, unfortunately, he always woke up from these dreams, a single father of three, with no other family to speak of, and he just wanted to do right by them, but he had so many of his own issues that he wasn't sure how to make sure that they didn't inherit any of them from him.

He looked around the large, beautiful house that seemed so cold and empty without the presence of his children. He sighed and walked quietly up the stairs, tears dripping down his face. He went into the master bedroom's bathroom and pulled out a dusty bottle of gin and tonics from the cupboard. This had been here ever since he had moved here and he was absolutely terrified to open it, terrified of what he might become. Robert Chase had watched his mother drink excessively her whole life and had watched her slowly whittle away to nothing: to death. Robert Chase had never himself drunk any alcohol, not wine, not gin, not beer. Robert Chase was afraid, deeply afraid, of all of the liquids which had destroyed his mother, and here he sat, trying to convince himself that the alcohol will make everything better, and yet trying to convince himself that it would make it worse at the same time. Robert Chase was at his wits end and he didn't know what to do.

He opened the bottle and sat down on the edge of the Jacuzzi tub, the strong whiff of the alcoholic beverage almost made him throw up. He brought the bottle to his lips, his hands shaking and tears running down his face…

And then he threw the bottle into the bathtub and watched as it shattered into millions of pieces and the liquid ran down the drain. Tears spilled down his cheeks as he slid off the edge and onto the floor, burying his face in his hands as he sobbed. It had almost happened; he had almost become his mother and he had almost done to his own children what she had done to him. As soon as he let out the tears that he had been holding in for so long, he couldn't hold any back any longer and he cried: for his mother, his father, his wife, his children…himself.

HCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCCHCHCHHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHHCHCHCHCCH

Thank you so much for reading and again for the wonderful reviews. Please review again because it's what makes me want to write so much more.


	4. Chapter 4

Oh, my goodness, thank you all so much for all of the wonderful reviews, you have no idea how much it makes my day to read them! Anyways, I am so glad that you all like the story because I've had it in my head for ages and I thought I'd actually write it and see if other people thought that it was a good idea, and I'm so glad that you do. So, without boring you all more with my author's note, here is the next chapter of Buried Secrets.

Chapter 4:

"Daddy, we miss you,"

Chase's heart almost broke at the sadness in his middle daughter Aliah-Grace's voice. He was on speaker phone with all of his children but two days after the alcohol incident.

"Oh, my babies, I miss you, too." He sniffed, trying not to get too emotional. It was true, they had barely been gone two days but he was missing them like crazy.

"When will we see you again, daddy?" Little Zannia-Sanis asked quietly.

"Very soon, honey, very soon," He replied. In all truth, as much as he wanted to beg Stephanie to bring them home RIGHT NOW, he also knew that having his children see him in his current state was an extremely bad idea.

"Daddy, Australia isn't the same without you," Allah-Maria added.

"And New Jersey isn't the same without you," Chase whispered with a sigh.

"Daddy, why did we have to leave?" Allah asked.

Chase sighed. Allah-Maria was seven years old, and very smart, as were all of his children. He knew that although he could not tell the younger girls, he could at least give his eldest a clue.

"Allah-Maria, can you take the phone off of speaker," He asked. Within seconds he heard a beep and then Allah-Maria's voice saying 'ready'.

"Allah, honey," Chase sighed, "I am going to tell you why you and your sisters had to leave, but you need to promise me that you will not tell them anything, and that you will continue to act in front of them, though you can talk to your Auntie Stephanie about it, like there is nothing wrong. I don't want to worry the little ones."

"Okay, daddy," Allah replied, "I promise."

"Good, honey," Chase drew in a long breath. "Look, baby, the thing is that things aren't always as they seem. Daddy," he paused, "Daddy has been very sad lately and I want you to know that it has nothing to do with either you or your sisters. Daddy has a chemical imbalance in his brain that makes him sad,"

"Depression," Allah-Maria said, knowingly.

"Exactly," Chase replied, "Well, it's been getting really bad lately and I need to sort myself out before I can bring you all home, as much as I just want to bring you home now. You see, I don't want you to see me like this. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, daddy, I understand," Allah said, "You just get better, Daddy, and don't worry so much about us. I can take care of the kids,"

Chase held in a laugh, "I know you can, honey,"

"Daddy," Allah whispered, "Will you sing me our song?"

Chase smiled, "Of course I will sing you our song."

"I could stay awake just to hear you breathing  
Watch you smile while you are sleeping  
While you're far away and dreaming  
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender  
I could stay lost in this moment forever  
Every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure

I don't wanna close my eyes  
I don't wanna fall asleep  
Cause I'd miss you, baby  
And I don't wanna miss a thing  
Cause even when I dream of you  
The sweetest dream will never do  
I'd still miss you, baby  
And I don't wanna miss a thing

Lying close to you feeling your heart beating  
And I'm wondering what you're dreaming  
Wondering if it's me you're seeing  
Then I kiss your eyes and thank God we're together  
And I just wanna stay with you  
In this moment forever, forever and ever

I don't wanna close my eyes  
I don't wanna fall asleep  
Cause I'd miss you, baby  
And I don't wanna miss a thing  
Cause even when I dream of you  
The sweetest dream will never do  
I'd still miss you, baby  
And I don't wanna miss a thing

I don't wanna miss one smile  
I don't wanna miss one kiss  
Well, I just wanna be with you  
Right here with you, just like this  
I just wanna hold you close  
Feel your heart so close to mine  
And stay here in this moment  
For all the rest of time

Don't wanna close my eyes  
Don't wanna fall asleep  
Cause I'd miss you, baby  
And I don't wanna miss a thing  
Cause even when I dream of you  
The sweetest dream will never do  
Cause I'd still miss you, baby  
And I don't wanna miss a thing

I don't wanna close my eyes  
I don't wanna fall asleep  
Cause I'd miss you, baby  
And I don't wanna miss a thing  
Cause even when I dream of you  
The sweetest dream will never do  
I'd still miss you, baby  
And I don't wanna miss a thing

Don't wanna close my eyes  
Don't wanna fall asleep, yeah  
I don't wanna miss a thing"

"That was beautiful, as always, daddy," Allah-Maria sniffed.

"I promise you something, Allah," Chase whispered. "No matter what happens, I'll always be there, for your wedding, for your first baby, all your babies, I will always be there. I won't miss anything."

"How can you make such a promise, daddy?" Allah-Maria asked, "When you aren't even sure that you will be around for us to come back to you."

"I didn't say that, Allah," Chase answered, "I said that I'm not doing very well, but…"

"How can you do well without us, without me, without Aliah and Zannia, we could take care of you," Allah whined.

"It's not your job to take care of me, it's my job to take care of you," He knew all too well that children just cannot take care of their parents like that.

"I just want to be with you, daddy," Allah whispered.

"And you will be, very soon, my baby," Chase said, "But right now you need to let daddy take care of daddy and then soon it will all be a lot better."

"Is that a promise, Dr. Chase?" Allah-Maria asked all serious that it almost made Chase laugh.

"That is a promise, Miss Chase," He grinned.

"So I guess everything is good then," Allah said, "We'll see you soon."

_Ding Dong_

Chase looked towards his front door, "Honey, someone is at the door; I have to go," he said, "I'll call you tomorrow."

"Okay, love you, miss you, daddy,"

"Love you, miss you, angel." He quietly hung up the phone and made his way to the front door. He opened it and came face to face with Drs. House, Cameron, Wilson, Foreman and Cuddy, and he stood, immobile, staring at them.

HCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHHCHCHCHCHCHHCHCHCHCHCHCH

SO there is the fourth chapter, I'm sorry that it is so short. The song was AeroSmith's amazing "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing", thank you so much for reading and please review.


	5. Chapter 5

I am SO sorry that it took so long to update this time (I think it was about a week and a half) but I've had to do some MAJOR studying for exams. You guys are so great with all of these reviews, I appreciate it so much. Thanks again and please let me know how this chapter is, as well.

Chapter 5:

"What are you doing here?" Chase asked his eyes wide with fear.

House pushed past him into the house, followed by the others and they walked into the living room. The living room floor was littered with dozens of all sorts of toys, and then there was an entertainment center and huge leather couches.

"What's with all of these toys, are you a pedophile?" House asked, not wanting Chase to know that they knew about his kids. He wanted Chase to tell them personally.

Chase glared at him and started to pick up the toys, taking them over to the toy basket in one of the corners. "Very funny, House." He said. He stood back up properly after cleaning up the toys and looked at them, his arms crossed over his chest. "I am pretty sure that I asked you what the bloody hell you're doing here."

"Whoa, foul language!" House said, "First I want to know about these toys." He was wondering where the kids were as they didn't seem to be here, or that Leandra that Allah-Maria had mentioned.

Chase bit his lip, "They're my children's toys," he looked down.

"Right," House smiled at the admission, "Well where are Allah-Maria, Aliah-Grace and Zannia-Sanis?"

Chase's head whipped up, "How do you know that!" He asked, almost scared.

"I talked to your eldest on the phone a few days ago when I was looking for you after you stormed out." House replied. "So, where are they?"

Chase looked angry, "They are in Australia,"

All of the other doctors were clearly shocked. "Australia?" Cuddy asked, "When did that happen?"

"They left two days ago," Chase said coldly. "Why does it matter?"

"We were just curious you know," House said, "We didn't want them to be here for this." He took in a deep breath as he watched Chase process the news.

Chase's eyes widened, "What do you mean, for this?" he asked, taking a step backwards.

"Chase, you need help," Cameron said, "All we want is to help you."

Now Chase looked absolutely terrified, "I don't need help, what will it take to get you to realize that?"

"When was the last time you ate?" House asked suddenly.

Chase was taken aback. The look in his eyes alone told everyone that House had hit the anorexia right on the button; it told them that Chase was not eating.

"I had lunch," Chase said, sweat starting to show on his forehead.

"Really, you had lunch," House repeated, nodding his head. "What day?"

"I…" Chase trailed off, he couldn't even think of lying to them, to anyone. "I, I ate..."

"Chase," Cuddy sighed, "You need to be honest with us or we'll never be able to help you."

"How many times do I need to tell you that I don't need your help?" Chase said, his eyes burning with an anger that they had never seen, "I can handle myself just fine."

"Oh, clearly," House said sarcastically, "Come on, now, I can snap you like a twig."

"I think that I weigh at least a little more than a twig, House," Chase said bitterly, crossing his arms over his chest.

House looked the duckling up and down. "Yeah, you're right. I would say you weigh about a half pound more."

Chase looked at him defiantly, his jaw clenched. "Are you here for a specific reason, or are you just here to try and make me angry?"

"Ch-Robert, we are here to help you," Cameron said, putting her hand on his arm only to have him pull away abruptly.

"Don't touch me!" He yelped as though she had the plague or something. "How many times are you going to say that because it is getting _really_ annoying?"

"Why do you pull away every time I try and touch you," Cameron asked, insulted, "Do you think that I have cooties or something?"

"No, I don't think that you have cooties," He said, shaking his head and causing his bangs to fall in front of his eyes. They all noticed that he made absolutely no move to push them away.

"Then what is with you?" Cameron asked.

"You shouldn't touch me, nobody should touch me, it isn't proper." Chase replied hotly, his voice getting gradually louder.

"And why is that?" Cameron asked.

"Because you're not my wife!" Chase yelled. He jerked his head back realizing what he had just said. He opened his mouth but no words came out. He looked at the floor, embarrassed.

"Chase, touching doesn't mean that I'm trying to get into your pants." Cameron told him.

Chase's eyes widened, "I cannot believe that you just used that sort of language!"

"What is this, the Vatican?" House asked. "'Get into your pants' is hardly foul language."

"And it is also hardly appropriate language," Chase replied.

"Okay, that I'll give you," House nodded understandingly.

"Chase," Wilson whispered. "You need to get over her and move on."

This seemed to be the final straw, and Chase went from angry to furious in a matter of seconds. "Just because you like to go through wives like they're going out of style that doesn't mean that I do!" He yelled.

Everyone was taken aback by his forwardness.

"I can't just get over her; she's my wife, the mother of my children, one of the two people that I have **_EVER_** trusted. I will always love her and be faithful to her; I don't care whether or not you think that that is insane, I could really care less."

"Chase, we're not saying that you should stop caring about her, we're saying that you should move on. It's been two years." Foreman said.

"Two years, three months and four days," Chase corrected. "I'd like you all to leave."

"We're not leaving until you stop being so stubborn and listen to us." Cuddy said angrily.

"Well, I'll go get blankets, then, because it looks like you could be here for a _very _long time," Chase said sarcastically.

"Well, we're sorry for trying to help!" Cuddy said her hands on her hips, "You are not coming back to work until all of this is sorted out, and I am serious."

"Fine," Chase said his eyes suddenly cold and emotionless, "I quit." Without further word he turned and headed up the stairs, leaving the five standing speechless.

"He—he didn't just quit, did he?" Wilson asked, dumbfounded.

"Yeah, he did." Cameron whispered.

"Hey, guys come and look at this,"

The four turned upon hearing Foreman's voice from the other side of the room. He was standing looking at pictures on the wall.

The pictures consisted of a very young Chase at his wedding ceremony with a beautiful, black haired, brown eyed woman. The two were beaming and looked indescribably happy. They all wished that they could have met Chase during one of the few years of his life that he was happy, though they knew that out of twenty six, there were probably only about six. Another picture was of him and his wife standing in a park and you could tell that they were barely older in this picture; the only difference was that she was now estimated seven months pregnant and they were both glowing with happiness.

"Maybe we need to give him some space." Foreman said. He felt sick to his stomach thinking of how much Chase must be hurting and he suddenly felt as though he were intruding too much.

"He needs…" Cameron objected.

"No," House interrupted, his eyes fixated on the pictures. "Foreman is right; we can't help him until he admits that he needs it. If we push him too far right now then we'll push him over the edge and he might…" House trailed off.

"Let's go," Cuddy said.

&&&&

Chase watched and listened from the top of the stairs and when he saw the front door close, he got up and went back downstairs, stopping in front of the pictures that they had just been looking at. He silently wondered how much longer he could keep telling himself that he didn't need help.

HCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHHCHCHCHCHCHCH

Thanks for reading; school is done now so I'll get the next one up quicker. Thanks for reading, please review! 1-2-B-M-S


	6. Chapter 6

Your reviews have been seriously much appreciated; they've been what have kept me writing so quickly (other than that last chapter). If you will review again for this chapter I will appreciate it so much. Thanks again.

Chapter Six:

"So what do you think?"

Chase, completely unsure of what his next move should be, had done the one thing that he knew would put some sense into his head. He had called the last person (other than his daughters) who loved him no matter what, no matter if it is platonically. So here he sat, on the balcony of his master bedroom staring into the view. He could see the hospital from here and he couldn't help but vaguely wonder whether or not they were all there in the diagnostics department conspiring against him.

"Oh, hon," Came the soft, sweet voice of Stephanie Dashund over the phone. "You have got to stop torturing yourself with things that are out of your control, things that aren't about you, like your mum's death and your dad's death, and start worrying about yourself, what is in your control, what you can do to make yourself happy."

"Move home?" Robert asked, running a hand through his wet hair from his very recent shower.

There was a pregnant pause, "You know, I don't think that you would be happy if you moved home."

Chase narrowed his eyes, sitting up straight in his chair. "What do you mean? Of course I would be happier if I moved home, I never should have left in the first place."

"Honey, you left because you felt that you had to get away from everything that Melbourne represented, and I think that if you move back to your house in Melbourne all you'll feel is emptiness because you're in the place where your mother hit you and was always drunk, never fed you, drank herself to death, where your father ignored and abandoned you and where your wife died. In retrospect, I don't think that you moving home, at least at this point when you are already so depressed, will help you."

"But you really think that me being here in this awful place will help me?" he asked, confused.

"It's not awful, it's only America," Stephanie said, amused.

"Yeah, but it's cold and damp and I swear I have seen like maybe five blonde guys since I've been here, I feel like I'm going extinct or something being the only one." He complained, "And having people always tell me that dying my hair blonde is bad for it because they find it so unbelievable that I am actually a natural blonde is very annoying."

"Robbie, you can't hate a place because people make fun of your hair colour." Stephanie laughed.

Robert huffed, "Yes, I can," he said.

"You know, it amazes me how you can go from completely mature one second to acting like a complete baby the next." Stephanie laughed.

"Alright, I get the point," Chase said, "So, what do you think that I should do, then?"

Stephanie thought for a moment, "Robbie, you are slowly killing yourself, you realize that, right?" she whispered, sadly.

"Steph," Chase whispered. He didn't want her to think that way; he didn't even want _him_self to think that way.

"Well, its true, isn't it?" Stephanie said angrily. "I mean, when we were younger, I used to think nothing of the fact that you never ate, I didn't understand what she was doing to you! And now, you are so psychologically damaged that you're willingly doing it to yourself."

"I'm not trying to do this, Steph," Chase said, a little annoyed. "And I don't want you to talk that way about my mum!"

"Why do you constantly defend her?" Stephanie yelled. This was one thing that she had never been able to understand about her best friend. No matter what his mum had done to him, or memory of her was still doing to him, he would defend her to the death.

"Because she's my mum and she loved me!" Chase yelled back.

"She couldn't have loved you that much otherwise she wouldn't have done what she did to you!" Stephanie immediately regretted her words.

Chase was absolutely taken aback by her words. Tears stung his eyes.

"Honey, oh, honey I didn't mean that…" Stephanie tried to rectify her words.

"No, you did mean it," he whispered. "I should go."

"No, don't you dare push me away; I'm all that you've got."

"Yeah, how about that?" Chase pressed the end button and then proceeded to turn off the phone altogether. He had to think.

HCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCCHHCCHCHCHCHCHCHC

"I still don't think that this is a good idea,"

As Chase had suspected, the five all sat together in the diagnostics department talking about him.

"Listen, Cameron, you can keep saying that fifty times over and fifty times over I'm going to ignore you, so why don't you just give it up." House snapped, rubbing his temples. This thing with Chase was really starting to get to him. He wanted to help Chase, and yet he couldn't. Not only did he have no idea what to do for his littlest, and prettiest, duckling, but he knew that trying to do anything would only make Chase hate him more.

Cameron sighed, "Because I'm afraid of what will happen if we let him deal with it by himself." She whispered. "What if he can't do it himself?"

"We have to have faith in him," Cuddy said, "I know that it's hard to do nothing, but I think that if we try and help him we'll end up just causing more damage than healing."

"You see, Alison," Foreman said, trying to comfort the saddened doctor, "If we push to hard, he'll pull away even further."

"Who is Stephanie Dashund?"

Everyone turned to look at House, who sat at the table in the middle of the room.

"What?" Wilson asked.

"Stephanie Dashund is Chase's best friend, his kid's 'auntie Stephanie', but who is she exactly? Her name sounds eerily familiar." House replied his voice monotone.

He opened up his laptop and opened up the web page. "If I type in Chase's name in Google I get everything from who his first grade teacher was to pictures of his wedding and kids because he's really famous over in Australia. I'm just wondering if I'll get the same typing in her name." He typed the name into Google images and suddenly hundreds of pictures popped up and they all sat down to look.

The first picture was of a woman of Chase's age with short, light brown hair, deep green eyes and small black-framed glasses. She was holding up a book and the caption underneath it said "Famous Australian author Stephanie Dawn Dashund at the first signing of her latest book '_Cruising into High Gear'._" The next photo was of the same woman, but with much longer hair, and Chase standing on a boat. This picture looked to have been taken only a few months ago and Stephanie was making a funny face and Chase was trying to look as though he didn't find it funny.

"Oh, that's how I knew the name, I've read that book," House said, "It's really good."

The rest of the pictures showed her with Chase, by herself, or with Chase's wife. There was one of the three of them at Chase and his wife's wedding with a caption "Robert and Melissa Chase with Robert's 'best man' Stephanie Dashund."

"Melissa," Cameron whispered. "That was her name, really pretty."

"So this Melissa," Foreman said, "Damn he must have loved her for it to still be affecting him this much."

"Eternal love, true love," Cameron sighed, "It's what everyone dreams about. Not many people actually find it, though. You know, where you can't actually live without the other person."

"I think that you should always leave some space so that if something happens to the relationship you don't fall as deeply into depression as Chase did. Things happen every day and getting yourself in so deep is bound to come back and bite you in the ass someday." Foreman said.

"Spoken like a true romantic," Cameron muttered sarcastically.

"What?" Foreman said, defensively. "I'm realistic. I mean, come on, you've seen how this has eaten away at Chase. Do you really want that for yourself?"

"It's not just Melissa that broke Chase, it's his whole family. His drunk, abusive mother and his distant shell of a father also have a say in this." House corrected.

"So you're saying that it was a lot of factors that came together to what, break him?" Cuddy asked.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying." House nodded.

"Okay," Wilson nodded, "So how do we fix him?"

"We wait."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Wilson asked, "He quit, remember, he'll probably be leaving the States soon."

"I guess we'll have to have faith that he won't leave." House muttered.

With a sigh, Cameron walked over to the window and looked out, her eyes shimmering with tears. She crossed her arms over her chest and said, not taking her eyes off the window, "I sure hope that you're right."

HCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCH

"_Robbie, it's me. Listen, I'm sorry, honey, I never meant that the way that it sounded. Please will you pick up the phone, I'm desperate to talk to you. Maybe you went to work, I-I don't know what to do. Okay, I love you, bye." _

"_Robbie, PLEASE answer the phone. You're driving me crazy with worry. I am so sorry; you have to know that I would never have said it normally. Please, please, pick up. Love you." _

"_This is the third time that I've called in the past half an hour, Robbie, can you answer the phone, I'm starting to get really worried. Please pick up, if you don't I'm going to call the police and have them come over there and make sure you're alright. Please call me." _

"_ROBBIE, ROBBIE, you have got to pick up, I'm begging you, down on my hands and knees begging you, please pick up, can you not tell that I'm crying over here? Please pick up, please, please, please, I am so sorry. I am so sorry. You have to forgive me, please, please, please, please. I'm going crazy, which is obvious as I've said that four times already. Honey, please pick up and let me know that you're okay. Alright, you're not going to, but please, PLEASE, call me. I love you so much." _

Chase did not hear any of these messages, though, because he is in his living room alone on the couch with an empty bottle of vodka in his hand. And he's not breathing…

HCHCHCHCHCHCHCCHCHCHCHC

Okay, so there is chapter six. This is what I like to call the beginning of the end. Are you interested in what the end would be? Please review, I would love to know what you think before I move on. Thanks so much. One Two Buckle My Shoe.


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks again for the reviews, this story is slowly coming to a close and I hope that you've enjoyed reading it like I've enjoyed writing it. So here is Chapter 7 of Buried Secrets, I hope you like and please review. And just so you know, there isn't much to be said in this chapter and it is VERY short, but the next ones won't be.

Chapter 7:

"So how is he doing?"

Dr. Alison Cameron stood outside of a hospital room, staring in through the glass, chart in hand. Dr. Gregory House, Dr. Eric Foreman, Dr. Jimmy Wilson and Dr. Lisa Cuddy had all just arrived and stood with her now looking at their newest patient.

House grabbed the file and looked sadly at the name: Dr. Robert Rhys Ryan Chase. He looked up at his youngest duckling who was on a respirator lying in the hospital bed in the room before him.

Stephanie Dashund hadn't been joking when she had said that she would phone the police to check on him, and they had found him and called an ambulance only minutes after he had stopped breathing. Paramedics had been able to revive him with some difficulty and now he was being treated for anorexia and alcohol poisoning. He hadn't yet woken up though.

"Still not much better than last time you checked half an hour ago," Cameron whispered. "So much for 'he'll come to us when he's ready'." She said. She was extremely angry at House and Foreman for saying that Chase would be fine and that they shouldn't do anything until he was ready. If it had been up to her then they would have never left his house and he would not have been driven to drink an entire bottle of vodka.

"If that is your subtle way of saying 'this is all your fault' then I have to say: very well played," House said sarcastically. He was a little mad at himself for allowing this to happen and he was also mad at Chase for doing this to himself. But mostly he was angry at Amelie and Rowan Chase for doing this to their son. Chase didn't deserve what they had done to him, or the repercussions of it that would haunt him until he died, which, to everyone's dismay, looked like it may come sooner than later. "He will be alright." He said.

"Are you trying to convince us, or yourself?" Foreman asked, pushing past the other doctors and going into Chase's room. He looked at the littlest duckling on the bed. He looked so small, so young, so thin…he looked like he was dead. And he almost was, dead, but with proper hope maybe he would be alright after all.

"Hey, Eric,"

He turned around. All the other doctors had followed him in and they all took seats around Chase's bed.

"Do you think that we drove him to this with all of our meddling in his private life?" Foreman asked, "I mean, maybe if we hadn't…" He felt awful about what was happening to Chase. This man Foreman used to think had such an easy life actually had a hard, maybe even awful life. Foreman just wasn't sure if he could switch his opinion of Chase just like that, but knowing all of this about Chase made him feel terrible that he still mostly disliked the duckling.

"I don't think that we should think like that," Cuddy said, softly running a hand through Chase's blonde hair. "We should just concentrate on getting him better."

"Can you please not touch me?"

Everyone was startled by Chase's soft voice, his eyes slowly opened and for once his mask was down and they could see all the hurt, depression and grief in his eyes, in his soul, and it was heartbreaking.

"Of course," Cuddy whispered, pulling her hand away.

"What am I doing here?" Chase whispered, groggily.

"Don't you remember?" Cameron asked, worriedly, "You drank an entire bottle of vodka."

"No, I didn't," Chase replied, giving her a look like she was crazy, "I've never drunken any alcohol in my life."

Everyone's eyes widened in acknowledgement. That could definitely help explain why he got such bad alcohol poisoning. Now they had a different problem, though, he didn't seem to remember what had happened.

"Where's my dad?" Chase asked, "And my mum?"

The doctors all exchanged looks, and finally House spoke up, "They aren't here right now." He wanted to see where this was going.

"Are they still mad at me for slitting my wrist?" Chase asked, worriedly, "Dad said that he was going to put me on anti-depressants. I just want to go home and see Leandra."

The doctors all looked at each other, mouths agape. Chase thought that he was still thirteen years old and in the hospital for slitting his wrist. Suddenly nobody knew what to do.

HCHCHCHCHCHCCH

So like I said, it was very short, but that was all that needed to be said. In the next chapter (which will probably be the longest yet), they are trying to figure out how to help Chase get his memory back and fight everything else going on. Please review, thanks a lot.


	8. Chapter 8

Hey, again, thanks for the reviews I really appreciate it. Sorry that the last chapter was so short, but that was all that needed to be said in it. This is going to be a lot longer, I promise.

Chapter Eight:

"Um," House said, "I'm Dr. House, and these are Drs. Cuddy, Cameron, Foreman and Wilson. We will be treating you."

"I'm really sorry," Chase said, "I'm sure you know my father, Dr. Rowan Chase, and I'm sorry if you think that I slit my wrist because of something he did."

"Did you?" Wilson asked. They were all amazed. On one side, they could probably get a whole bunch of information about Chase's childhood out of the duckling, and on the other hand they had to try and help him get his memory back.

Chase blinked and turned away, "Of course not, my dad is really…. good. He works hard to make money for us."

"What about your mum?" House asked, "I have a feeling that she might have a drinking problem."

Chase blinked, his barriers had returned. They were amazed that Chase had probably had those barriers his whole life. "No, I mean, we're rich right?"

Remembering what Chase had once told him, Foreman said: "Just because you're drinking pricier stuff, doesn't mean that you don't have a problem."

Chase looked up at him with sad eyes.

"Okay," Cameron said, trying to change the subject. "We need to ask you some questions."

"Okay," Chase said, warily. He crossed his arms over his chest as Cameron started to write stuff down on his chart.

"Your full name, please," Cameron asked.

"Robert Ryhs Ryan Chase."

"Age,"

"Thirteen."

"Parents names and birthplaces,"

"Dr. Rowan Rject Frykin Chase from Prague, Czech Republic and Amelie Ann Joelle Jaress-Chase from Hamburg, Germany."

"What is your favourite pastime?"

Chase narrowed his eyes, "I know for a fact that that has got nothing to do with taking a patients history. I am _not _an idiot." His eyes were blazing with anger.

"We can't give you anti-depressants unless we are 100 sure that you need them, and this will help us find out." House said.

"Alright, then, its painting. What you want to see all of the paintings that I've done?" Chase asked angrily. "You should see the one that I painted of myself; it's awful and ugly just like I am!" He turned away from all of the doctors that were looking at him sadly. "They hate me." He whispered.

Cameron's eyes filled with tears, "What?"

"Mum hates me; she hits me all the time, with her fists, her feet, and empty alcohol bottles, anything that she can get her hands on." He sobbed. "Dad hates me, too. He ignores me all of the time and he says that I have to be a Rheumatologist like him, but I don't want to be a doctor, I want to be a priest but he doesn't care. He says that I should 'suck it up and become a doctor like a real man' but I don't want to."

There had always been suspicions from all of the doctors in the room about whether Chase had ever actually wanted to be a doctor, they were all sure that he didn't actually want to be one but that he had become one to please his father. Now that all of their suspicions were proved true, it almost hurt to think about.

"Robert," Cameron whispered.

"Call me Rhys," He said, "I like to be called Rhys."

"Alright, Rhys," Cameron said, "Why haven't you ever told anybody about this before?"

"I don't want to talk about it," 'Rhys' Chase said, stubbornly, sinking low in his bed.

"Okay," Foreman nodded, "When did you last eat?"

Chase's eyes widened, "I don't see how that is any of your business."

"Well," House replied, "We took a blood test and it looked suspiciously like you haven't eaten in quite a while. You're also anaemic, which can be because of the fact that you aren't getting the proper iron and vitamins that you need. And you have asthma, aren't you just a healthy little fellow."

"So what?" Chase asked, angrily, "Like you don't have anything wrong with you. What happened to your leg, an infarction?"

House was stunned, "How did you know?" he asked.

"Well, I've read a lot of my dad's medical books when he's not looking." Chase replied, "When he and mum used to fight all the time before he moved out, I would hide up in my room until morning. It was something to do. I have to be really careful though because if he knew that I took it he would kill me."

"Why do you read all of this if you aren't interested in becoming a doctor?" Cameron asked.

"Well, I have to become one whether I want to or not because of dad, so I figure I'd better start studying." Chase said nonchalantly.

"Do you hate your father?" House asked. He wanted to know whether or not Chase had been using his 'it hurts less to just not care' speech throughout his whole life.

"No," Chase whispered, looking down. "I cannot hate anybody, Catholics do not hate."

"Does everything you do have to come back about your being Catholic?" Foreman asked. This is something that he had always wondered about Chase.

Chase glared at him, "Spoken like someone who doesn't have a religion. What are you atheist? I bet that none of you could even begin to try and name the Ten Commandments. Or if I asked you what John 3:16 was, I bet you wouldn't know it. These are all things that are important to me and my Church. They may not be important to you, but you should at least respect the fact that to me, they are important, they do matter."

Everyone was speechless. They had never thought about it this way, they really should respect Chase's religion more and they all made a mental note to do just that.

"What are they?" Cameron asked, hoping that getting him to remember this would help trigger memories.

Chase looked at her, "The Ten Commandments are as follows: 1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, 3. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain 4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 5. Honour thy father and thy mother: 6.Thou shalt not kill. 7 Thou shalt not commit adultery. 8. Thou shalt not steal. 9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 10. Thou shalt not covet. And John 3: 16 is** '**For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'"

Chase blinked _Thou shall honour thy father and thy mother…Honour thy father…_. It was clear to everyone that Chase was relapsing into a memory.

_Chase: Why are you here? _

_Rowan: SLE conference. _

_Chase: You were in New York last year for the scleroderma conference, I didn't hear anything from you. _

_Rowan: Just wanted to say hi this time. _

_Chase: You said it, you're still here. _

_Rowan: I miss you. _

_Chase: I was 15 years old when you walked out. Now you're walking back in? _

_Rowan: I left your mother. I didn't leave you. _

_Chase: near tears Mum was living on gin and tonics, how was I supposed to take care of her? _

_Rowan: She wasn't your responsibility. _

_Chase: I know! She was yours. _

_Rowan: I'm sorry she died. I'm sorry you had to deal with that. But she was falling apart long before – _

_Chase: I've got to talk to House about this treatment._

_Honour thy father, Honour thy father, Honour thy father_

Before anybody knew what was happening Chase had broken down in tears. They all weren't sure what to do; they couldn't touch his shoulder reassuringly: he hated that.

_I don't hate him. I loved him until I figured out it hurts a lot less to just not care. You don't expect him to turn up to your football match? No disappointments. You don't expect a call on your birthday; don't expect to see him for months? No disappointments. You want us to go make up? Sink a few beers together, nice family hug? I've given him enough hugs. He's given me enough disappointments._

"He thought that I hated him," Chase sobbed. They sighed, he was back. "How could I let him die thinking that I hated him?"

"He must have known that you loved him, Robert," Cameron whispered, "I'm sure that he knew it."

"How could he have known it when I didn't?" Chase asked. Everyone looked at him, confused. "I convinced myself that he was awful, which he was, that I was better off without him because all he's ever done was hurt me and my mum, but I wasn't better off without him. And now he's gone and he didn't even think enough of me to tell me when he was here that he was dying, he knew it but he hated me so much that he couldn't even have the decency to tell me and he hated me because he thought that I hated him."

"Chase," House sighed, "Your father didn't hate you believe me. When he was telling me that he had cancer…"

Chase's eyes widened. "He told you?" He squeaked.

House blanked. _Shoot_. He thought. "Yeah, he told me, Chase, believe me he didn't hate you."

"Get out." Chase whispered.

Everyone was completely taken aback. "What?" Foreman asked

"How could you know that my dad was dying and not tell me you bastard!" Chase yelled. "Get out all of you, now!" He yelled so loudly that the whole floor must have heard and they knew that they had to let Chase calm down before going back in there so they left.

"Well, at least he has his memory back," House said when they all sat in the diagnostics department.

"He was right," Foreman said, looking at House (as was Cameron) with a look of malice and hate, "You are a bastard."

"How could you keep something like that from Chase, did you not consider his feelings at all?" Cameron agreed.

_Bring, Bring_

House picked up his cell phone and listened to the person on the other end before hanging up, a sad look on his face.

"What is it?" Cameron asked.

"I was just informed by one of the doctors on the ICU, one of Chase's friends, Dr. Gardner that Chase fired all of us as his doctors and that he hired Dr. Gardner. Anything that we think might be something to help Chase; we'll have to work with Dr. Gardner for."

HCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHHCHHCHCHCHCHCH

Hey, thanks again for reading and I would appreciate any comments on this chapter as always. I hope that you enjoyed it, next chapter up soon.


	9. Chapter 9

Thanks again for the reviews; I'm really glad that you are enjoying it. Sorry for the wait, but without any further ado here is chapter nine of Buried Secrets by One-Two-Buckle-My-Shoe. Thanks again and please review.

Chapter Nine:

"I'm sorry, Dr. House, but I'm not budging on this,"

Twenty minutes after the phone call the team had run down to the ICU and were now talking with Dr. Hope Gardner.

"You have to let us in with him again," House said stubbornly, "You have no idea what a mess he is in."

Dr. Gardner turned to House with angry eyes, "Dr. House, I know Robbie Chase more than you could even begin to. Have you met any of his daughters? Nope, you didn't even know that he had them until a few days ago, and yet I have met them all. Funny, isn't it? If there is anyone in this hospital that understands and cares for Robbie it is me, not you all who never show an ounce of interest in him. He thought that you all hated him before this and now he is even surer. If I allow you to see him it will only hurt him, not help him at all so you can be sure that that is what I am going to do."

"You don't understand," Cameron said softly, "We do care for Chase, very, very much, but we had to help him, he is anorexic, all we wanted to do was to get him to admit that he needed help."

"Yes, but you did it the wrong way and he ended up in the hospital." Dr. Gardner said.

"Right," House said sarcastically, "Cause we gave him the bottle of vodka and were cheering him on!"

"It doesn't matter that he did that, you drove him to it. You have no idea what it's been like for him. You drove him to quitting and now he is going to go back to Australia and probably work at Sydney General or in Melbourne and he won't even get the help that he needs." Dr. Gardner said sadly and insistently, her eyes brimming with tears. "He needs to know that there are people other than his daughters and Stephanie who care for him and want to see him alive. You have no idea how depressed he is; I've seen it for months and it's scary. He thinks that everyone would be better off without him and he suddenly fell into an even bigger slump when he stopped taking his pills and he reverted back to being anorexic."

"What do you mean reverted back?" Cameron asked, her heart had sunk with the words, though, and she almost didn't want the answer.

Dr. Gardner's eyes softened for a moment, "He was an anorexic for the first fifteen years of his life."

The Diagnostics team gasped. This was far worse then any of them had ever conceded. How something like that had been left out of his medical records they couldn't imagine.

"His father was ashamed to admit what his mother had done to Robbie as a child so he had Robbie treated and never allowed it into Robbie's file. Robbie told me that his mum used to tell him that if he ate he would get fat and that nobody likes fat people so he had better not eat. She used to feed him a turkey sandwich on twelve grain bread once every two weeks. He has always fought the anorexia; ever since he got treated after his mother died and I think the reason it may have flared up again so badly like it did was because he still has what she used to tell him ingrained in his head. I think that somewhere in the back of his mind, he was sure that if he was thin enough you would all like him."

The shame that House and the ducklings felt was incredible. They suddenly realized the extent of Chase's suffering and they couldn't help but feel responsible for some of it.

"Why is that kid such an idiot?" House sighed only to have Drs. Gardner and Foreman gape at him and Cameron smack him on the back of the head. "Ouch, I mean that he was an idiot for not telling us that there was something wrong."

"Would you tell someone that you didn't trust; whom you think didn't trust you?" Foreman asked, and everyone was a little shocked that he was standing up for Chase. "He had no one to turn to."

"I guess this was really everybody's fault, then," Cameron whispered, "It was ours for not realizing sooner and not trying hard enough to help him and his for not letting us help or telling us."

"It's about time," House smiled.

"What?" Foreman and Cameron asked, confused.

"Well, it has been my goal ever since each one of my ducklings started to make you stubborn as hell." House beamed and the three doctors couldn't help but laugh.

"Ah, the musings of an old man," Foreman said sarcastically.

House glared at Dr. Gardner before turning and stalking down the hall towards the elevator, Foreman and Cameron following him after a quick goodbye to Dr. Gardner.

"Where are we going?" Cameron asked as House pushed the down button inside the elevator.

"The wombat's house," House replied as the doors shut.

CHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHC

"_Robbie, it's me. Listen, I'm sorry, honey, I never meant that the way that it sounded. Please will you pick up the phone, I'm desperate to talk to you. Maybe you went to work, I-I don't know what to do. Okay, I love you, bye." _

"_Robbie, PLEASE answer the phone. You're driving me crazy with worry. I am so sorry; you have to know that I would never have said it normally. Please, please, pick up. Love you." _

"_This is the third time that I've called in the past half an hour, Robbie, can you answer the phone, I'm starting to get really worried. Please pick up, if you don't I'm going to call the police and have them come over there and make sure you're alright. Please call me." _

"_ROBBIE, ROBBIE, you have got to pick up, I'm begging you, down on my hands and knees begging you, please pick up, can you not tell that I'm crying over here? Please pick up, please, please, please, I am so sorry. I am so sorry. You have to forgive me, please, please, please, please. I'm going crazy, which is obvious as I've said that four times already. Honey, please pick up and let me know that you're okay. Alright, you're not going to, but please, PLEASE, call me. I love you so much."_

They all stood around Chase's answering machine and sighed once they heard the beep after the final message. Suddenly they knew that if she hadn't called the police that Chase would be dead right now and nobody would even have known about it. The scared tone of her voice showed love and concern and it gave them all hope that Chase would fight to stay with his family.

House informed the ducklings to look around before sitting on the couch and thinking about the conversation that he had had with Chase when his father had been in town.

_Chase: Why does everybody need to know my business? _

_House: People like talking about people. Makes us feel superior. Makes us feel in control. And sometimes, for some people, knowing some things makes them care. _

_Chase: I'd tell you my dad left, my mum drank herself to death… you gonna care about me more? _

_House: Cameron would. Me, I just like knowing stuff. I know you hate your dad, but I'm gonna tell you something – _

_Chase: I don't hate him. I loved him until I figured out it hurts a lot less to just not care. You don't expect him to turn up to your football match? No disappointments. You don't expect a call on your birthday; don't expect to see him for months? No disappointments. You want us to go make up? Sink a few beers together, nice family hug? I've given him enough hugs. He's given me enough disappointments. _

_House: Okay. _

_Chase: That's it? _

_House: That's it. _

And then Chase had left. House vaguely wondered what his excuses had been for not telling Chase about his father's illness. It wasn't that he gave a rat's butt that Rowan asked him not to say anything, but suddenly he was wondering if it had been to punish Chase. Or maybe in the back of House's mind he thought Chase was better off not knowing. Or maybe it was because he knew Chase would go to his father and he didn't want Chase to have to have watched both parents die.

"House!"

House looked up to see Cameron and Foreman standing in front of him. Cameron had a worried look on her face and Foreman just looked annoyed.

"We've been trying to get your attention for the last five minutes, House," Foreman said angrily.

"What is it?" House asked, "What did you find?"

"Only that he clearly loved his little girls a ton," Cameron said, "Their bedrooms are all different which means he designed them to fit each girl's individual interest. Apparently Allah-Maria loves race cars, Aliah-Grace loves Disney princesses, especially Jasmine, and Zannia likes clouds and Winnie The Pooh. There are pictures of all the girls everywhere, too, and of his wife and Stephanie, not one of him though except if he's with the girls."

House nodded. Chase had always been very particular about people looking at him, he hated people thinking that he was good looking and new nurses staring and drooling over him made him nauseous and paranoid, though House didn't know why. He figured that Chase may feel as if he wasn't worth being looked at; either that or he just didn't want to be known solely for his looks.

"There was a whole bunch of coloured glass in his bathtub I think that he may have thrown a bottle of alcohol or something in there. I also found a prescription for a medicine in his cabinet," Foreman said, uncomfortably, "A medicine to help treat ulcers,"

House sighed and shut his eyes. Chase had an _ulcer_? Now that was something that House couldn't understand. Sure Chase had plenty of ammo to give him an ulcer, but the fact that Chase had just let them treat him without telling them he couldn't quite comprehend.

"House, the prescription was given to him by Wilson," Foreman said.

HCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCH

Sorry for the ultra long wait, but I was super busy; the others won't take so long. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and I can't wait to hear any comments that you may have. Thanks so much for reading.


	10. Chapter 10

Thanks again for the reviews, and I hope that you like this chapter. Please review again and thanks for reading.

Disclaimer: I do not own House, M.D. I only own Chase's daughters, Stephanie Dashund, and Leandra.

Warning: Just so you know, I did use a few swear words in this chapter

Chapter Ten:

"House, I didn't tell you because there was no reason to. You aren't his physician anymore and I did tell Dr. Gardner, though she already knew. Had you still been treating him I would have said something." Wilson sat at his desk staring into the extremely pissed off face of Greg House.

"You didn't think it important for me to know that one of my ducklings has an _ulcer_?" House asked angrily.

Wilson stood up; upset by the way House was treating him. "In case you have forgotten, Chase quit, he is no longer one of your ducklings and he never wants to see you again."

House blinked, "You've been to visit him." He said in disbelief.

"Of course I've been to visit him; I'm not the one he hates."

"Oh, well la de _freakin' _da," House rolled his eyes, "You know, what if I were to tell him that you knew, too? I bet that than he wouldn't want to see you."

Wilson narrowed his eyes, "You aren't going to be able to tell him anyways. Besides, he'd understand doctor patient confidentiality."

"When it comes to his father, Chase doesn't give a rat's ass about doctor patient confidentiality. That was his _dad_, and he would see you as being just as much a bastard as me!" House was really angry now. He couldn't believe the way Wilson was acting, and he couldn't understand it, either. Why was his best friend acting like such a jerk?

"You know, House," Wilson sighed, "You might think that you are God here at this hospital, but you're not. You are more like Lucifer." House frowned. "You think that everyone should do exactly as you say how and when you say it, and to tell you the truth everyone is sick of it, including me. You drove Chase away, and he was the first doctor that ever made it past a month working with you and you know that the reason for that is because he is used to being treated like crap so he didn't see anything wrong or different about it. But now he is fighting back: he is sick and tired of always being treated as though he is the gum on the bottom of your and his father's shoes and that is why he is leaving. The fact that you tried again to intrude way too much into his personal life was a turning point that just made Chase say 'forget it'. It was you, it was nobody else, he deserves better than you and he deserves the chance to be happy for once in his life!"

House was shocked, "Wow, I've never heard you say that much shit in one paragraph in all the time I've known you." House said angrily. The two doctor's angry eyes met. "You just wait, _Jimmy,_ that kid is unstable. If he dies, it's your guilt, not mine." With these words, House turned and stormed out of Wilson's office, slamming the door so hard behind him that Wilson's framed medical diploma crashed to the floor, shattering the glass into thousands of pieces.

HCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCH

"How are you feeling?"

Chase opened his tired eyes slightly to see Wilson standing above his bed for a moment before he sat down in the chair next to the bed.

"Just dandy," Chase muttered, his accent more prominent then Wilson had ever heard it.

"I knew,"

Chase looked at Wilson strangely. Wilson had his head down and was looking at the floor, his hands cupped in his lap. "What do you mean? What did you know?"

"About your dad," Wilson whispered. "He came to me when he was here; he wanted my opinion on how much longer he had left. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, but all the doctor patient confidentiality kind of kept me from it. I felt like such an ass when you found out about his death."

"Its fine," Chase whispered. Wilson looked up, now Chase was looking away, "I know that you knew."

Wilson was stunned, "How did you know?" he asked.

Chase looked at him, "After I found out that he would have known about it while he was here I checked to see if he was registered at the SLE conference and he hadn't been. I knew that he couldn't have come to see me, because he doesn't care enough for that, and I thought he probably came to see you to get your opinion on it. I checked his medical history and there it was."

"But," Wilson was taken aback and confused, "Why is House such a bastard for not telling you, but I'm not?"

"You said it yourself," Chase whispered, "Doctor patient confidentiality." He sighed, "And that wasn't the main reason I said that, either. It was a lot of things, I just couldn't put up with him anymore."

"I know how you feel," Wilson said. He breathed in a deep sigh. "He doesn't mean it, though. He really doesn't want you to leave, Chase."

"I don't care anymore," Chase said, "If I stay here my depression will just keep getting worse, not to mention my ulcer. I want to go home so that I can hopefully buy myself some more time to spend with my daughters before all of the stuff that I have wrong with me finally does me in."

"It will be awhile before that happens, Chase," Wilson smiled, "You know that if you stay I think that House will be so grateful that he may even stop being an asshole."

"You know I wish that it were that easy," Chase said, "I wish that _anything_ was that easy."

Wilson narrowed his eyes, not really sure what Chase was getting at here.

"I've been fighting anorexia ever since I was first told when I was fifteen that I was supposed to be eating and my father had me treated for it. But food…just the thought of it makes me want to hurl and I hate it, I hate what she did to me." Wilson noticed as Chase tried to hide the grimace of pain on his face.

"You know, you're in pain, you have an ulcer, its okay for people to know that." Wilson told him.

Chase looked at him, sweat running down his forehead. "No, it's not." He took in a few shallow breaths trying to get through the pain. "I took three pills a day, Wilson, so that it would barely even hurt, it numbed the pain. Now I can only take one and the pain is killing me."

Wilson stared at him in disbelief. "You were taking three pills a day?"

Chase nodded, "I didn't want anyone to know. House, my daughters, Cameron and Foreman, even Steph, though she knew something was wrong."

"You aren't a machine, Chase, you can let people know that you are hurting, it won't make you seem weak. You have a lot of things wrong with you."

Chase looked up abruptly. "Yeah, and who's fault is that? Sure, my asthma and anemia are both genetic things I got from my mum, but anorexia cannot solely be blamed on her. I reverted back to being anorexic because I was a moron who stopped taking my anti-depressants, and I also can't completely blame my depression on my parents. As for the ulcer, that is a little bit of everything. Melissa's death, my mum's death, before she died, my dad before and after he died, House, this hospital, work, leaving Oz to come and live here…these are all things that came together and I couldn't deal with it."

"Maybe you should get some rest," Wilson said.

Chase was shocked. He had finally started to open up about stuff like they were always telling him to and now Wilson wanted him to stop? He sure hoped that Wilson knew that once he stopped talking that he wouldn't start again.

"Fine," Chase said and he pulled the blanket over his eyes. "You can go now."

Wilson was stunned. He hadn't expected Chase to rudely turn him away like that, but he got up anyways and made his way to the door.

"Everything will be alright, Chase." He said before he gently closed the door behind him.

"What were you talking about?"

Wilson jumped nearly a foot in the air. "Jesus Christ!"

House smirked, "No, Lucifer, remember?" He said sarcastically. "What were you talking about?"

"That is none of your business," Wilson moved to get past House, but House grabbed him and pushed him back against the wall.

"I am making it my business," House said angrily, "I don't know what is wrong with you and why you are suddenly acting like such a big prick, and frankly at the moment I don't even care, but I need to know what is going on with my littlest duckling. Please." House said the last word quietly, and for the first time since House had first confronted Chase in the chapel, Wilson could hear the worry and concern in his voice.

Wilson sighed, "I just-it feels as though you're hurting him. You keep deciding to do stuff concerning him and it is always wrong and makes stuff worse. I just don't want to see him get any more hurt."

"And you think that I do?" House asked, "Jimmy, you know that I…" he paused, as though the words were extremely difficult for him to say, "You know that I care for Chase and I don't want to see him hurt either, I want to help him but to help him I need your help. We have to do this together."

Wilson sighed, "Alright, so he is being fed through a tube and is taking both his ulcer medications and his anti-depressants. He hasn't had any further memory loss, but he seems to be having lots of nightmares concerning his childhood. He was just telling me about his mother and he is pretty much blaming himself for everything, from his ulcer, to his parent's and wife's death, his depression and even his anemia and asthma. He does admit that he is responsible for his current anorexia and admitted that he has always had trouble ever since his mother died and he was treated in the first place with not becoming anorexic again and said that the mere thought of food has always made him sick to his stomach. I am going to request that Dr. Gardner gets him to speak to the resident psychologist and maybe work out some of his issues, especially his issues with his parents and food."

House nodded, "His parents, I wish I could bring them back to life just so that I could beat the crap out of them for what they did to him." House murmured. "Thanks Jimmy."

Wilson sighed, "I'll try and see if I can get him to talk to you, too."

House nodded.

"So, are we good?" Wilson asked.

"Yeah," House replied, "We're good."

HCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCH

Hey, thanks for reading and I hope that you liked it, I appreciate any comments on the story and the next chapter will be up soon. Thanks


	11. Chapter 11

Hey, again, thank you so much for all of your wonderful reviews. I look forward to hearing your comments on this chapter as well.

Chapter Eleven:

"_So, Robbie, do you want to come over to my house and play after school today?" _

_Eight year old Robbie Chase smiled sadly at his best friend in the whole world Stephanie. "I'm sorry, Stephie, but I have to go home." _

_When Robbie Chase returned home he walked into the living room to find his mother once again passed out on the couch. He sighed and went into the kitchen where he ran a rag under cold water and squeezed out any excess water before returning to the couch and gently dabbing his mum's face with it. In a few moments she opened her eyes. _

"_Robbie, my baby," She reached up and gently cupped his cheek in her hand and he smiled back at her, trying to ignore the smell of alcohol on her breath. "You love me, don't you, Robbie? You're not like your father." _

_Robbie nodded, "I love you more than anything in the whole world, mum." He told her reassuringly. _

"_Good," His mum said, "You know what today is?" _

_Robbie narrowed his eyebrows and looked at her. "What?" he asked. _

"_It's your birthday, silly." She slurred happily. "You are nine today, did you know that?" _

_Robbie looked at the calendar on the wall and saw that it was, indeed, his birthday. He wondered how he hadn't noticed before but then remembered that all of his time was taken up by school and taking care of his mum. _

"_I'm nine," he nodded. _

"_You're such a big boy now, sweetie," She said with a smile before closing her eyes. "You'll always be my baby, though." _

_He nodded, "I'll always be your baby." _

"What were you dreaming about?"

Chase tried to focus his tired eyes on who was sitting next to his bed and immediately turned away when he noticed who it was.

"Oh, come on, don't be a baby," House said sharply.

"I was dreaming about my mum," Chase replied, almost embarrassed.

House nodded.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Chase asked, "I told them not to let you in."

"Well, as far as they're concerned I'm Dr. James Wilson." House smirked. "I need to talk to you."

Chase sighed, "About what?"

"I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry." House said, earning a confused expression from Chase. "And I know that that isn't something that I say, ever, but in this case it's true and I'm saying it. I pushed you too far and I'm sorry, you have to know that I never meant to hurt you. Despite what you think, Robert, I do care." House stood up and prepared to leave.

"You don't have to go."

House turned at the sound of the soft, Aussie voice and noticed that Chase's tired eyes showed hints of both sadness and confusion. "Don't go." Chase repeated.

House sighed and went back to sit down next to Chase. "It's been two weeks since you talked to Wilson about your father, two weeks since I've seen you. You're getting better very quickly. I'm proud of you."

Chase looked away from House, who kept speaking despite his ex-ducklings silence, "Your psychologist says that you aren't opening up like she wants you to. That is pretty much the only thing that is still keeping you here. You're eating on your own, three meals a day, even if they are very small. If you can get yourself to open up to Dr. Calvin then you will be able to leave."

"Yeah, I'm sure you'd love that. Have a party; the Brit-boy is gone." Chase was clearly still angry at House, and the fact that he had called himself British to show it stung.

"You're not British, you're Australian." House replied, causing Chase to look at him. "You know Foreman said something that sounded awfully familiar when you had that memory lapse and thought you were thirteen."

Chase narrowed his eyes, "What?" he asked.

"I said that I had a feeling that your mother had a drinking problem and you replied with, 'no, I mean, we're rich, right?'. And then you know what Foreman said? He said 'just because you're drinking pricier stuff doesn't mean that you don't have a problem.' Sound familiar?"

Chase looked at his hands. That had been what he had said to Foreman when they were working the case of the so-called schizophrenic mother. He hadn't thought that Foreman had ever paid attention.

"Can you believe that he remembered you saying that?" House asked.

"How did you know that I said it?" Chase asked.

"Well, after we left your room, Cameron told him that it was really deep, and he said that you had said that to him. You may think that nobody was paying attention to you, but you were wrong." House said.

HCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCH

Hey, sorry it took so long to update, there are only two chapters left of this story, I almost can't believe it's about done. I hope you enjoyed, let me know what you think.


	12. Chapter 12

Hey, I am again thankful for the reviews and I can't wait to hear your thoughts on this chapter. I hope that you enjoy it, thanks a lot.

Chapter Twelve:

"Name?"

"Robert Rhys Ryan Chase."

"Occupation?"

"Doctor, specialty in intensive care,"

"Place of birth?"

"Melbourne, Australia,"

"Age?"

"Twenty-six years old,"

"Parents names and birthplaces?"

"Dr. Rowan Rject Frykin Chase from Prague, Czech Republic and Amelie Ann Joelle Jaress-Chase from Hamburg, Germany."

"So, Dr. Chase, would you mind telling me about your childhood?"

Chase glared at Dr. Calvin. She was a nice woman, but he fount it hard to open up to her, no matter how hard he tried, so he figured that he could just give her a very brief outline of his childhood.

"I tried to kill myself when I was thirteen and started taking anti-depressants when I was fourteen. My mother and father got a divorce when I was fifteen and my dad moved to Sydney, and I stayed in Melbourne to take care of my alcoholic mother. When I was sixteen my mum finally drunk herself to death and then I went to live in the seminary."

"I see," Dr. Calvin tried not to show that she was shocked at the obvious traumatic childhood. Someone like Dr. Chase Sr. she would have assumed to be a relatively good father. "When did you see your father again?"

"I saw him when I was in the hospital for slitting my wrists and then again when my mum died and my dad had me in the hospital to treat me for my anorexia."

"Anorexia, why don't you tell me when you first became anorexic," Dr. Calvin said.

Chase turned away; he suddenly didn't feel up to talking any more.

"Dr. Chase, you have to start opening up a little bit more. If you don't I won't be able to release you from the hospital." Dr. Calvin knew from speaking about it to Dr. House that Chase would have a very hard time opening up because it isn't something that Chase has ever done before. This scared her a little thinking of what he could be hiding, but if she could just get him to open up about his parents and his anorexia then she could release him and just have him go to a psychiatrist in Australia once a week, he would even still be able to work.

"I need to speak to someone else first," Chase whispered, looking up at Dr. Calvin who was looking at him as though trying to figure out what to do.

HCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCH

"So, you wanted to speak to us?"

Drs. Cameron, House and Foreman were seated in three chairs around Chase's bed. They had been quite surprised when Dr. Calvin had called and told them that Chase wanted to speak to them, but at the same time very excited about getting to talk to him. They wondered only vaguely why Chase wanted to talk to them, especially as they'd been sitting here for five minutes already and he hadn't said a word.

"I don't like you messing with my personal life," Chase whispered, "I don't like you telling me that I'm worthless, and I hate it when you call me British. I don't like it when you drop books in my lap when I'm sleeping or push me off of chairs just so that you can have a good laugh when I fall."

Everyone was silent, they really weren't sure if Chase had paused to give them time to say something or not.

"You might think that because I never say anything about it that it doesn't hurt me, but it does. I bottle things up inside and I have ever since I was a young child, but if I keep doing it then I'm just going to explode and I understand that. That is what happened when I stopped taking my anti-depressants. I didn't want my life to be ruled by them, I've been on them so long I didn't know what I would be like without them, but I also didn't like what I was without them. When I first started medical school was when my prescription had to be upped from mild anti-depressants to severe anti-depressants, and one of my professors asked us all what medications if any we were on and I was so ashamed of them. I wouldn't tell him so he called my father who told him what I was on. I was so mad, so ashamed. Once he found out it was like he was tiptoeing around me so as not to break me or something."

"Once Father Michael asked why I had left seminary school and I told him the truth. I told him that my parents didn't love me, my dad left me, my mum beat me and God forgot about me. I told him that it seemed as though God just didn't care about me anymore and he told me a poem."

"Can we hear the poem?" House asked softly.

Chase looked at him, "It's to do with God; I don't think that you'd like it."

"I want to hear it," House said, and Cameron and Foreman both nodded their approval.

Chase sighed and looked at them, "Have you ever heard the poem entitled Footprints by Margaret Fishback Powers?"

"No," They all replied.

Chase thought for a moment before starting.

"One night a man had a dream

He dreamed that he was walking along the beach with the Lord

Across the dark sky flashed scenes from his life

For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand

One belonging to him

And one belonging to the Lord

When the last scene of his life flashed before him

He looked back at the footprints in the sand

There was only one set of footprints.

He realized that this was at the lowest and saddest times of his life

This always bothered him

And he questioned the Lord about his dilemma.

"Lord, you told me when I decided to follow You,

You would walk and talk with me all the way.

But I'm aware that during the most troublesome

Times of my life there is only one set of footprints.

I just don't understand why, when I needed You most, You would leave me."

He whispered, "My precious, precious child.

I love you and will never leave you

Never, ever.

During your trials and testings,

When you saw only one set of footprints in the sand

It was then that I carried you."

The room was silent after he was finished. In true Cameron fashion, she had tears rolling down her face, not just at the story, but also at the fact that Chase had truly felt for such a long time that nobody cared about him. Foreman was thinking over the story and was thinking about what a great story it was, even if he didn't believe in God or anything.

"I had heard that poem once or twice in church before he told it to me, but I had never been able to actually put it to use in my head. When Father Michael told me the poem I knew that God hadn't abandoned me, I knew that he was there carrying me throughout my troubled times, but then I couldn't help but wonder, why he hadn't done anything to help my mother or to help me. Then, I simply felt betrayed, so I guess that that wasn't exactly what Father Michael was intending for me, but that's what it felt like. I believe that God created the universe, and I believe in Noah's Ark and Adam and Eve and I believe that God has love for every person in the world and I look out the window every day and I feel and I see the love that he has for the world by the way people love each other and by the trees and the blue skies, and even the rain. Rain washes away the impurities of what we've done to the earth and to ourselves. And I also believe that everything happens for a reason, like he's got this huge library up in Heaven and for each person there is a book and the book lays out his entire plan for you as a person and everything that happens to you or will happen to you is in that plan. I believe in fate, serendipity, and I know that you don't and that's fine. I know that God has a reason for my mum's drinking and my dad's absence and my wife's death, I just…wish that I knew what it was."

After his speech everyone had tears rolling down their faces, even Foreman and House.

"Why are you telling us this?" House asked.

"Because, my therapist said that I had to talk to someone but that it didn't have to be her. I wanted to talk to you, maybe explain some things."

"Why don't you explain why you went back to being anorexic," House suggested. "I know and understand why you were anorexic the first time, but I want to know why you were anorexic now."

"It just all got to be too much," Chase replied, not meeting anybody's eyes. "I mean, I have tried so hard to eat on a regular schedule since I was fifteen but it's been so hard lately to do it, I was working so many hours and it was hard to keep a schedule. To tell you the truth, having a schedule was the only thing that kept me eating before now and I can't eat if it's not on time with the schedule that I have and it just got to a point when I was really depressed and I felt like nothing was going right and I just…I guess I made the decision not to change my eating schedule and I know how stupid that was, but it's so hard for me, I hate food, although lately I've loved chocolate. I have locked things up inside of me and I was likely to explode did I not exert some control over my life, and that's what it was. Eating was something that I could control, be it controlling myself to eat on the schedule or controlling myself not to eat."

"So you have a new eating schedule now?" House asked.

Chase nodded and smiled lightly. "Yeah, I'll eat at 6am, noon, and 6pm everyday. I'll be able to keep to that schedule, I'll have to otherwise I'll fall back again."

"How did you first find out that you had that ulcer?" Cameron asked.

"Well, it was about three months ago or something like that, and I had been feeling like crap, my stomach pains were getting so bad that I could barely move. Anyways, I started looking at my symptoms and I thought that there was a chance that I had an ulcer so I went to talk to Wilson about it. He agreed with me and he was about to run a test to find out conclusively when I started throwing up blood. After that I had to wait a few days before he could do the test, but when he did it just confirmed our suspicions and he put me on the meds. I've been taking way more than I should have every day because I didn't want to in any way show that I was in pain, I sort of numbed the pain. It was sort of like my anti-depressants. They don't make it all better: they just numb the never-ending pain that will plague me forever."

"Chase, you never know, depression may cease eventually," Cameron said, with sadness in her voice.

Chase smiled lightly, "I appreciate it, Ally, but it's not going to happen, believe me."

"I can't get over the fact that you've been hiding all of this: the stuff about your parents, your anorexia, your ulcer, your wife, your daughters, your depression, all of this, from us and we never even noticed that something was wrong. What kind of friends are we?" Cameron sniffed and Foreman reached out and took her hand reassuringly.

"You were good friends," Chase reassured her, "Believe me, you were. If I had wanted you to know than you would have known, I can hide things better than you can even imagine and if I don't want someone to know something, then they aren't going to."

"Is this all?" House asked. He wanted to be absolutely sure that his, he shuddered at the thought _ex_-duckling, wasn't hiding any more pain from them. "This is everything."

And for the first time ever, they noticed that the walls that Chase always had up, were not up anymore. His usual guarded blue eyes were no longer guarded and suddenly they looked to have a lot more green in them then usual. He wasn't lying, he was being completely truthful with them for the first time and they knew how hard it had been for him. "Yeah, House, that is everything."

HCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHC

Hey, there is chapter twelve I hope that you guys enjoyed it. This is by far my favourite chapter out of all the ones that I've written mostly because this chapter was almost purely written to resolve any issues that they had before as a team and as friends. That poem Footprints I was pretty eager to find a place for it in the story because it is my all-time favourite poem. I hope that you guys like it as much as I did and I would appreciate any reviews that you give me. The last chapter will be up very soon and I'll tell you now that it isn't going to be very long, but I hope you like it anyways. Thanks a lot, One Two


	13. Chapter 13

Alright, well this is the final chapter so I thought that I would give a bit longer of an authors note here, but you don't have to read it if you don't want to. I want to thank again everybody who has read and/or reviewed my story; you have no idea how much those reviews mean to me. This is a story that I thought of so long ago and I finally decided that I wanted to see what others thought of it and I'm glad that I did. I am so honoured that you read my story and I thank you again. I hope that this ending satisfies you, and I would once again love to hear your final reviews. Thanks so much, One-Two-Buckle-My-Shoe.

Disclaimer: I still only own Chase's daughters, Leandra and Stephanie Dashund.

Final Chapter:

Cameron walked into Chase's hospital room just as he was buttoning up his white shirt. He had on black pants and his black leather jacket sat beside him on the bed.

"Hey, Chase," Cameron smiled.

Chase looked up and grinned at her. "Hey, Ally," He replied, "Can you believe it, I'm free of this place." He smiled but he noticed the sad look on her face and walked up to her just as he finished buttoning the last button on his shirt. "What's wrong?"

Cameron smiled, "Nothing, really." She sighed, "I'm just going to miss you."

Chase looked her up and down and bit his lip. Carefully he reached out and pulled her into a hug, which she gratefully returned.

She sniffed when they pulled away a moment later. "I thought that you didn't like touching people." She whispered.

Chase looked into her eyes, "What, it's not like you've got cooties."

Cameron laughed. "I'm going to miss this; we were a team the four of us."

Chase smiled. "Ally, we still are."

Her eyes widened. "What?" she asked, trying to contain her excitement.

"I'm not leaving, Ally," he said. She grinned happily and hugged him again. "Okay, one hug is enough." He laughed. "I'm not completely comfortable, here."

"Hey, Chase, are you ready to go?" Chase and Cameron both looked towards the door where House and Foreman stood.

"And what was that you said about not leaving?" House asked, needing to hear it for himself.

"Well, I was thinking that it would be a shame to pull my kids out of their schools in the middle of the year." Chase replied and everyone smiled. "Now, I want to go home."

"Thank goodness," House said, "I don't have to go through interviews now." He said it as though that were the only thing that made him want Chase to stay, but they all knew that he would miss Chase and that this was just his way of trying to hide it.

They talked about patients as they made their way to the elevator, and it wasn't until they were inside the elevator and the doors were closed that House said: "I'm going to draw up the paperwork for you to sign after your fellowship is finished next month so that you will stay working in diagnostics. All of my ducklings will get this when their time comes."

And there it was. There was House finally telling them how much he cared, even if you had to read between the lines to get it.

They had barely stepped out of the elevator and into the lobby before Wilson and Cuddy approached them.

"Hey, Chase," Wilson said, "We're going to miss you around here."

"Yeah, you have a good life." Cuddy agreed.

"Alright," Chase smiled, about to tell them that he was staying when he saw the smile on House's face as he looked behind Chase's back and Chase turned towards the door to see his best friend Stephanie Dashund standing in the doorway as well as his three blonde-haired, blue eyed girls.

"Daddy!" The oldest two yelled and ran towards him, Zannia held tightly in Stephanie's arms as she walked over to meet him.

Chase bent down and picked up Allah, hugging her tightly to him. "Oh, honey, I missed you so much!" he had tears in his eyes.

"Daddy; can't breathe." Allah sputtered.

Chase laughed, "Sorry, baby," he said putting her down and lifting up Aliah giving her just as big of a hug. "Hey, honey, were you good for Auntie Stephanie?" He asked.

"I was an angel, daddy." She grinned as he put her down.

Little Zannia was looking at him strangely, her thumb in her mouth. Chase smiled at his youngest girl. "Hey, you." He whispered to her, bending down to her eye level. Suddenly a huge grin spread on her face and she reached out for him. He pulled her into his own arms and smiled at her. "How are you?" he asked with a smile.

"Daddy, I miss you." She said, looking sadly into his eyes that were a perfect match of her own. All of his daughters looked exactly like him, not one looked like his wife, much to his dismay. He always told Steph that he would have loved to have a mini-Melissa running around.

"Daddy missed you, too," He said as he bent down and proceeded to hug all of his children to him. "I missed all of you so much." He put Zannia on the ground next to her sisters and stood back up pulling his best friend into a tight hug which she returned, crying into his shoulder.

"I was so scared," She whispered into his shoulder between sobs. He rubbed her back soothingly. After a moment, she pulled away slightly and slapped his arm.

"Ow, what was that for?" Chase asked, rubbing his arm.

"That was for scaring me! Don't you ever do that again."

Chase smiled and reached into his pocket and pulled out two bottles of pills and she looked at them, they were his anti-depressants and his ulcer medications. "Nope, not again." He said, hugging her again. "I love you."

"I love you, too." She whispered, relishing being in his arms.

When they pulled away, Chase picked up Aliah and Stephanie picked up Zannia, leaving Allah to walk holding Chase's other hand. "I'll see you all on Monday," he nodded to them with a smile before they made their way to the exit.

"I thought that he quit." Wilson said.

"Yeah, well, he changed his mind." House smiled after his youngest duckling. Everything would be okay now.

H C H C H C H C H C H C H C H C H C H C H C H C H C H C H C H C H C H C

So, there it is the final chapter of Buried Secrets. I know that it was really short, but I didn't see the need to put anything else in there. One thing I do like about it, though, is that it's got no angst or drama in it! I really hoped that you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it and that this ending works for you. Thank you again to everyone, One-Two-Buckle-My-Shoe.


End file.
